Aircraft propeller systems, machine tool assemblies, turbo machinery, and other rotating equipment typically include a high speed rotating shaft, spindle, or other type of elongated member. These devices normally experience a certain amount of vibration caused by an imbalance in the propeller, tool, etc. The vibration, if not corrected, can cause the device to run inefficiently and ultimately fail.
Known balancing devices have been created and utilized in order to correct the imbalances. While somewhat effective, these prior art balancing devices and methodologies suffered from various drawbacks. For example many of these prior art balancers required that the tool assembly and/or rotating machinery be stopped or “interrupted” before a balance was achieved, which is relatively costly and highly inefficient.
Other known balancing systems are designed to correct an imbalance in rotating machinery while in operation. For example, the balancing system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,618,646 continuously monitors the state of balance of the rotating system, and can correct for imbalance while the rotating equipment is running. These “real-time” balancing systems typically rely on vibrations signals to determine whether balancing is required, and move balancing weights to rebalance.
However, these known real-time balancing systems do not properly account for short-term changes in vibration that may improperly indicate an imbalance situation. For example, in an aircraft propeller, wind buffeting and other turbulence, especially when the aircraft is taking off or landing, can result in rapid changes or transients in vibration that is not indicative of an imbalance situation. Prior art balancing systems, when detecting these transient changes in vibration, may still attempt to rebalance the propeller, even though this may be unnecessary. Such efforts may lead to an actual imbalance or at minimum an unnecessary movement of balance weights.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need for a system and method for real-time balancing that accounts for temporary erratic vibration transients.